Partner at Charleston law firm sued for nearly $2 million in back taxes

CHARLESTON -- The federal government is suing C. Michael Bee, a partner at Charleston law firm Hill Peterson Carper Bee & Deitzler PLLC, for nearly $2 million in back taxes.

In its six-page complaint, the government names Bee, wife Antoinette Bee and Huntington National Bank as defendants.

According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia last month, Antoinette Bee is a defendant because she may “claim an interest” in the real property being foreclosed on.

In particular, the Internal Revenue Service is attempting to collect federal taxes assessed against Michael Bee in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2012 -- a total of $1,941,279.35 -- and to enforce federal tax liens associated with the liabilities.

The real property to be foreclosed on, according to the complaint, is in the Woodbridge Subdivision off Oakridge Drive in Charleston.

“Despite notice and demand for payment, C. Michael Bee has failed, neglected or refused to pay the outstanding assessments,” Kathryn Keneally, assistant attorney general with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division, wrote in the Feb. 21 complaint.

According to the government’s complaint, it filed a notice of a federal tax lien with the Kanawha County Commission in August 2008 for Bee’s unpaid federal taxes in years 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002. In June 2009, it filed a similar notice for his unpaid taxes in 2005, and in June 2013 for unpaid taxes in 2012.

“Because the federal tax liens attach to the real property, they should be foreclosed and the real property should be sold with the net proceeds of the sale (after the costs of the sale), distributed to the parties in this action to the extent that the court determines that the parties have an interest in the real property, and which distribution shall be in the order of the priority of their interests,” Keneally wrote.

Bee could not immediately be reached for comment on the suit.